PUNE: The smell of victory with black pieces for Divya Deshmukh was probably sweeter after it came after a brief stoppage in play — forced due to the noise of a wedding reception coming from the lawns adjacent to the chessplaying hall. The Indian somehow justified her wild card by beating Nurgyul Salimova in the first round of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix chess meet at Amanora The Fern, Hadapsar, on Monday.
Chief Arbiter Ivan Syrovy had to apologise to all the 10 players and paused play due to disturbing noise going into the fourth hour of play. He ensured that the clocks were stopped and the players huddled into one room. He also thanked them for co-operation in this tough situation and promised to solve the issue with the help of local organisers.
Thankfully, the noise was reduced and the play resumed in 10 minutes. A while later, as things again got louder with the priest chanting the mantras closer to the mahurat, Divya was cooking the Bulgarian’s goose. After getting an exclamation mark from the computer — for giving her rook for knight — Salimova came up with the game-changing inaccuracy immediately. She captured Divya's e4 pawn with her own pawn on the 33rd turn instead of taking it by the bishop.
Though Divya did not play precisely and could not evaluate Salimova's defensive ideas thereafter, she still managed to win the double bishop, double rook, pawns vs double bishop, rook, knight and pawns endgame after 53 moves.
Divya at Elo 2460 is rated higher than Salimova's 2402. The opening round in this 10-player nine-round tournament, one of the qualifying paths for the Candidates, saw four of the five games ending decisively. Polina Shuvalova was another player to win with black pieces. The Russian defeated Poland's Alina Kashlinsakya. The final act included offering rook exchange in a bid to hasten the queening of black pawn.
It was a mixed day for India as D Harika lost to Zhu Jiner, suffering a heavy material loss. She also could not stop the Chinese pawn from queening first. The rut was started with two consecutive knight moves from the a5 square.
The game between Mongolia's Munguntuul Batkhuyag and Georgia’s Salome Melia lasted five and a half hours with Melia blundering within mutual inaccuracies under intense pressure. She lost in 85 moves with Mungnutuul's 'a' pawn cleared in the rook vs knight endgame and black knight set to fall. K Humpy , playing with black pieces, held R Vaishali to a draw. When the moves were repeated thrice after the 50th move, there were only six pawns each on the board with Humpy having two pawns in one file.
Chief Arbiter Ivan Syrovy had to apologise to all the 10 players and paused play due to disturbing noise going into the fourth hour of play. He ensured that the clocks were stopped and the players huddled into one room. He also thanked them for co-operation in this tough situation and promised to solve the issue with the help of local organisers.
Thankfully, the noise was reduced and the play resumed in 10 minutes. A while later, as things again got louder with the priest chanting the mantras closer to the mahurat, Divya was cooking the Bulgarian’s goose. After getting an exclamation mark from the computer — for giving her rook for knight — Salimova came up with the game-changing inaccuracy immediately. She captured Divya's e4 pawn with her own pawn on the 33rd turn instead of taking it by the bishop.
Though Divya did not play precisely and could not evaluate Salimova's defensive ideas thereafter, she still managed to win the double bishop, double rook, pawns vs double bishop, rook, knight and pawns endgame after 53 moves.
Divya at Elo 2460 is rated higher than Salimova's 2402. The opening round in this 10-player nine-round tournament, one of the qualifying paths for the Candidates, saw four of the five games ending decisively. Polina Shuvalova was another player to win with black pieces. The Russian defeated Poland's Alina Kashlinsakya. The final act included offering rook exchange in a bid to hasten the queening of black pawn.
It was a mixed day for India as D Harika lost to Zhu Jiner, suffering a heavy material loss. She also could not stop the Chinese pawn from queening first. The rut was started with two consecutive knight moves from the a5 square.
The game between Mongolia's Munguntuul Batkhuyag and Georgia’s Salome Melia lasted five and a half hours with Melia blundering within mutual inaccuracies under intense pressure. She lost in 85 moves with Mungnutuul's 'a' pawn cleared in the rook vs knight endgame and black knight set to fall. K Humpy , playing with black pieces, held R Vaishali to a draw. When the moves were repeated thrice after the 50th move, there were only six pawns each on the board with Humpy having two pawns in one file.
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